It’s been pretty much dead since the league expansion in the 90s-00s diluted the talent pool, and put enough teams in markets that can’t support a hockey team that the league had to change the rules (salary cap) to prop up these failing teams and “fix” their mistake.

During this time there was also a bunch of stupid rule changes made that completely interrupted the flow and intensity of the game, with the purpose of increasing scoring to make the game more “TV friendly” for the non-hockey orientated viewers.